More people have died of COVID-19 in Florida, Texas in 1 month than in 20 years of hurricanes, report says

A researcher works in a lab that's developing testing for COVID-19. (Kena Betancur, 2020 Getty Images)

Although states and many businesses are now open in a variety of capacities, don’t be fooled: the novel coronavirus pandemic is far from over.

These numbers seemed jarring: COVID-19 cases in Florida and Texas are up, and those include nearly 3,800 and 2,700 deaths, respectively, according to a Tuesday report from Newsweek -- one that goes on to say that the combined number of coronavirus-related deaths recorded in both states in the past month is greater than the total number of hurricane-related deaths reported in the U.S. over the past 20 years.

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Here’s how the report breaks it down, including its sources:

  • From June 5 to July 6, Florida had 1,168 deaths, according to Worldometer.
  • In Texas, the state reported 888 deaths in the same period, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
  • This makes a combined total of 2,056 fatalities reported in both states over the past month or so.
  • This goes beyond the 1,960 hurricane deaths and hurricane-related fatalities reported in the past 20 years from 2000 to 2019, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Hurricane Center.

“The total COVID-19-related fatalities to date in Florida (3,778 deaths) and Texas (2,667 deaths) also both exceed the number of deaths from tropical cyclones in the U.S. reported over a 50 year period, according to a 2014 study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,” Newsweek said.

To check in on cases and fatality numbers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a webpage where people can track numbers. Last updated Monday, the CDC said the U.S. has seen 2,886,267 coronavirus cases and 129,811 total deaths.

Here’s another CDC data tracker if you’d like to break down the numbers by state.

We’ll share two screenshots of Florida and Texas numbers, below.

Florida data (CDC)
Texas data (CDC)

Does this news come as a surprise? Leave your reaction in the comments below.


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